On the Red Zone Offense

I usually take a couple of days to collect myself before posting after a loss--keeps me from writing things I might regret. But I'm noticing a really disturbing mantra starting to take root in the Clemson community that needs to be addressed. Something along the lines of, "Well, if only the offense played better in the red zone we'd be 4-0". I've heard various message board posters, pundits, analysts repeating a similar refrain.

This is flat-out wrong. In all meaningful games we've played to date, our offense (and I mean that in terms of offensive output, not offensive design) has consisted almost entirely of C.J. Spiller or Jacoby Ford getting the ball in space and using their superior athletic abilities to gobble up large chunks of yardage. When we get to the red zone, though, the field shortens and there's no open space left. Our red zone offense is essentially the same as our normal offense without Spiller or Ford--it's non-existent. To put it another way, we struggle in the red zone like we struggle anywhere else on the field, the only difference is Spiller and Ford can't bail us out with big gains.

We can debate the reasons for the offensive struggles (inconsistent line play, soft wide receiver routes, baffling playcalls, dropped passes; to name a few) but let's not let delude ourselves into thinking this offense is adequate except when it gets in the red zone. We need drastic, fundamental improvement in a lot of areas before we even approach a league average offense. I sincerely hope the coaching staff sees this, but from what I gather so far they've been more or less content to prop up this phantom red zone issue as the central problem. The fanbase/media needs to hold their feet to fire over the real issue, or anytime we play a top defense we should expect to come away as losers.

For now, if anyone tells you the key to Clemson's struggles is to "figure out" the red zone, feel free to ignore everything else they say.